


Inextricably Linked

by SamuelJames



Series: MMOM Entries 2015 [4]
Category: The Following
Genre: M/M, Merry Month of Masturbation Challenge 2015, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Some Murder Discussion, Some Religious Discussion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-04
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-29 00:34:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3875734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamuelJames/pseuds/SamuelJames
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events at the prison, Ryan checks into a motel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inextricably Linked

**Author's Note:**

> _Title: Inextricably Linked_   
>  _Pairing: Joe Caroll/Ryan Hardy (Implied)_   
>  _Rating: 15+_   
>  _Summary: After the events at the prison, Ryan checks into a motel._   
>  _Notes: Written for Merry Month of Masturbation Challenge 2015._   
>  _Disclaimer: This transformative work has been created purely for entertainment purposes. No profit is made or sought. No copyright infringement is intended._   
>  _Archiving Information: Please do not archive elsewhere on the net._

After a second drink with dead Joe, Ryan formulates a plan. He asks for directions to the closest motel and a liquor store. He ends up checking into a really cheap place that would probably glow like a '90s rave under a blacklight. Ryan doesn't really care. He turns off his phone and opens his purchase, vodka. He settles on the bed and takes a swig. He ought to ring Gwen, ought to give a shit about what she wanted to tell him but he needs to grieve for Joe without having to pretend he's okay. In the viewing area he'd had to keep it together as Joe flatlined, couldn't have people seeing his distress.

Joe saved him and he saved Joe, and all for him to die in sanctioned circumstances mere hours later. Ryan had had to give statements about the prisoners he killed, how they'd taken Dana and what had been said in the infirmary. He wanted to tell everyone to shut up, that it was between him and Joe but instead he had to pretend that he'd said whatever it took to get free. Joe knew though that Ryan was telling the truth. He'd half thought Joe was going to kiss him and had been disappointed when he hadn't. He's never had those feelings for a man, not even so much as kissed a guy for a dare. It should sicken him that he'd wanted it, wanted Joe pressed against him. He takes a few more swigs from the bottle and turns on the TV. It's his face and then Joe's as the news recaps the bloody events leading up to the execution. He looks at Joe's lips, so often curled into that smirk of his.

Ryan should be saddened when they put up photos of the initial victims but as always more attention is paid to the killer and Joe's photo gets half the screen while they get this little grid. Ryan knows their names, knows what Joe did to those women and it is disgusting that he took such delight in doing it. When he recalls Joe on his knees there are no witnesses and Joe is not surrendering but offering to show Ryan how he can put his mouth to good use. Ryan presses his hand against his cock through his pants. He absolutely cannot get off to the thoughts of being with someone who has done such horrific things. Changing the TV channel gets him another picture of the prison and then Joe again and then a statement with the time of death.

He wonders what Joe would have done if Ryan had told him about the other dreams. They started with Ryan recalling the meeting in Joe's house when he'd been a charming helpful Poe adviser, before he was on their radar as a suspect. In retrospect he probably delighted in tricking Ryan but his mind has seen fit to torment him with other versions of that night where they were making out on the couch or Joe had him pressed against the wall. Ryan couldn't have known then that the man would come to occupy most of his waking thoughts. Now even his dreams aren't off limits. Joe was right, he did become the most important person in Ryan's life, but he wouldn't be the first lawman to devote his life to taking down a criminal.

He takes another swig as the TV shows a younger photo of him when Joe had first been arrested. Then he hears that voice and Joe is there in the corner of the room, smirking as usual as he leans against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Come on, Ryan. Pull yourself together. Don't dwell on my last moments. Instead think of what we could have been."

"Shut up, Joe."

"Now is that any way to speak to your mentor?"

Ryan snorts and puts the bottle down on the floor.

"Let me shape you, Ryan, mold you in my image."

"Thought the preaching thing was fake."

"Well if idiots will put their faith in an invisible entity, I feel it's my obligation to show them the way. Tell me about the dream. Please."

Ryan lies back on the bed and closes his eyes. "We had a knife and she was in bed. I wanted to in the dream but not when I woke up. It's just my brain dealing with things."

"I saw your face at my execution, love. I hated to see you in pain. Channel that grief and that anger into something productive."

"Like a murder? Don't be predictable, Joe. I mean Poe as your last words."

He opens his eyes and Joe is now crouched down next to the bed.

"I wanted to say goodbye to you, Ryan, but not as the risk of exposing us, exposing you."

"There is no us and you staged a murder hostage scenario just to see me. I think your crush is evident to all."

Joe looks angry at that and begins pacing the room. "It is not a crush, Ryan. I am not a pathetic teenager hoping from a smile from the object of my affection. Our connection is strong, Ryan, but it needs sustenance. I needed to see you admit just once that we are connected. I couldn't have this with Claire, nor with any of my followers because you challenge me in ways they never did and know me better than Claire ever did."

"She was your wife, Joe."

"I did hope she might be yours one day. That was my sincere hope. I was really rooting for you kids. When I say soulmate, Ryan, I don't mean some Hallmark rom-com bullshit definition. I was scared of being so truly known. It had been drilled into me how to avoid detection but us, well I will admit I'm at somewhat of a disadvantage but I learned all I could about you. I've never had a friend before, someone I would want to tell everything to."

Ryan tries to ignore his erection, wonders if Joe will keep haunting him. He knows it's not real and maybe Joe will go away when the coverage dies down.

"Your pants look a little tight, Ryan. Relieve the tension if you want. I want you to be happy."

Ryan strips down to his undershirt and boxers, now that he has permission from some imaginary version of his dead nemesis.

"I always found far more intimacy in murder than in sex but I tried for Claire and made our son. I would try for you, Ryan, learn what you liked. You have put yourself through so much because of me that you must be a least a little masochistic."

Ryan shoves his hand into his boxers and closes it round his cock. He doesn't really need to look at some ghost version of Joe, it's a face he knows almost as well as his own. Joe though doesn't like being ignored, even for a minute

"Still shy, Ryan. I would hope to cure you of that, share everything with you. I would come to you after my kills and show you how much you mean to me. In time you'd grow excited as I recounted the details. I'd like to teach you, Ryan, share the kills. This form does not allow for arousal but what if we'd run together from Lily's house. I could have held you when you were so desperate to do the "right" thing.

Of course he does air quotes as though the condescension dripping from his tone didn't convey his abhorrence of what is good and right. 

"We would have talked about everything; poetry, love, art, death, dreams. It's a shame about your surroundings, love, but you look relaxed a little. I would have refocused that determination of yours, learned how you liked to be loved and perhaps even how you liked to be hurt. We could have been magnificent if you had let me in sooner. Touch yourself for me, Ryan. I want to see your pleasure and think of what might have been."

Joe's voice is soothing and a turn-on even if Ryan could never have been his killing partner. He doesn't think about the darkness, just the idea of being with Joe and shutting him up with a kiss. He strokes his cock as the ghost in the room keeps talking, always loved to hear himself talk. As Ryan comes the voice fades and when he opens his eyes, he's alone. Ryan wipes his hand on the blanket and gets into the bed. He leaves the TV on low and cries himself to sleep.


End file.
